weapons ?

[Guydodge]

should i hold off on upgrading weapons just finished chapter 9 and pretty much been waiting up till ch9 had to upgrade a few to get past ch9 boss lightnings sword took to level 10 blazefire saber.

[Seraphita]

You would be better waiting for Chapter 11 to upgrade anything seriously. It's not needed at all until then.

[Guydodge]

thxs unfortunetly i did upgrade two things but seriously for me i needed them first game like this i played so its alot of hit and miss.but my skill is improving.

[WickedRequiem]

Is there a reason why he should wait?
Does the weapon quality go up if he waits to upgrade?

[TotalAbyss]

All weapons end up the same type at the end. But with different stats or bonus's depending on what it had when you got it. Just keep upgrading it along the path and it will end up as. omega weapon for lightning kains lance for fang nue for hope ect ect.

All weapons end at as there ultimate forms when you upgrade them. So no there is no real reason to not upgrade.

Just its easyer to upgrade later on via items to sell for gil and mats for crafting.,

[talgaby]

The only reason not to upgrade is higher strength or magic stats = lower target time on all battles. That's why it can be better to use accessories to enhance you if you want to keep getting the drops from enemies, since only 5-star battles have real chance of giving you anything. An auto-faith/brave item can help you against mobs more than a Tier 3 weapon. Those fights rarely last more than 1 minute, the time these auto-buffs last.

[Galson]

Wait until you get: for Sazh Deneb Duellers, Vanille - Belladonna Wand, Hope - Hawkeye, Light - Axis Blade or Lionhart, Snow - Paladin and Fang - Taming Pole. You may want Procyons for Sazh or Umbra for Snow instead of those I mentioned too. Start upgrading/transforming as soon as you get them and the catalysts. You won't need anything else really.

[chrcoluk]

there is nothing wrong with upgrading weapons for commandos. especially for sazh, if you upgrade his daneb duellers enough then his auto battle/ai wont pick physical commands which is very slow, only his blitz physical attack is decent.

[Maechen]

I'd wait for the Dragoon Lance for Fang. You want her to stack strength as much as possible imo. There's one with slightly higher strength but has stagger lock so I don't think it's as good.

I also like Spica Defenders for Sazh but at end game he just doesn't do anything particularly well(blitz spam with paper tiger is too situational). I'd rather Fang/Vanille be Synergists at full grids because of the "ra" spells but Sazh with a fully upgraded Spice Defenders is good for long buffs.

[Scarlet Crusade]

I go against the general idea with Fang and prefer Pandoran Spear for Improved Debilitation ability. A couple Kaiser Knuckles and it's right up there with Dragoon Lance and Taming Pole.

[Galson]

Originally posted by Maechen:

I'd wait for the Dragoon Lance for Fang. You want her to stack strength as much as possible imo. There's one with slightly higher strength but has stagger lock so I don't think it's as good.

I also like Spica Defenders for Sazh but at end game he just doesn't do anything particularly well(blitz spam with paper tiger is too situational). I'd rather Fang/Vanille be Synergists at full grids because of the "ra" spells but Sazh with a fully upgraded Spice Defenders is good for long buffs.

If you look at the upgrades:

Taming Pole -> Venus Gospel -> Kain's Lance. In the end 921 Mag and 921 Str.
Dragoon Lance -> Dragonhorn -> Kain's Lance. In the end 0 Mag and 962 Str.

That additional 41 Str is neglible really and Taming Pole is easier to get. Plus Fang can be a nice 3rd Rav with +921 Mag, as opposed to 0 ;)

[Maechen]

I prefer strength since most of the damage done as a commando. I see ravager in endgame just as a means to an end for 999% stagger. I just prefer as much strength as possible. Each to their own though. Also that weapon comes with stagger lock, an effect I don't like.

Edit: Also even with the Taming Pole, she still uses the strike ravager spells(aquastrike etc) almost exclusively so a higher magic stat is somewhat irrelevant.

[chrcoluk]

Originally posted by Maechen:

I'd wait for the Dragoon Lance for Fang. You want her to stack strength as much as possible imo. There's one with slightly higher strength but has stagger lock so I don't think it's as good.

I also like Spica Defenders for Sazh but at end game he just doesn't do anything particularly well(blitz spam with paper tiger is too situational). I'd rather Fang/Vanille be Synergists at full grids because of the "ra" spells but Sazh with a fully upgraded Spice Defenders is good for long buffs.

funny enough I am controlling sazh when farming for dark matter's he is vastly underated in my opinion.

Whilst vanille and fang have the ra buffs they dont have the valuable en buff's. bravera is 1.6 multiplier, bravery + en is 2.6 multiplier.

and cold blood great for quick 900+% chain bonus after stagger.

Also when choosing weapons I think its valuable ot be versatile, I think fang's bwest weapon is her pandoran spear. It helps her magic which I think is too low otherwise, she remains strong on strength and it helps her sabotier role to boot. Stagger locking I think is counter productive unless you want to deliberatly do it, I do use the rigels on sazh tho when fighting shaolong gui's but I am timing his attacks so he isnt hitting stagger point.

Also I am using quick stagger weapon for lightning maxed out on this playthru (have never done in past) and its quite handy. Going for one super high stat is overated.

[Maechen]

My party has Hope in it, so the en spells are covered. Vanille has the Belladonna wand so she does most of the debuffing. I personally don't think Fang needs a high magic stat because she can use the strike spells, which scale from strength. I always control Fang, highwind to me is too good to not use especially while farming and the 470k odd damage/atb bar on Shalong Guis is great(enfire,bravera).

Some builds might kill stuff 10-20seconds faster but in the end it's not a big deal. As long as you can kill shaolong gui in one stagger and long guis in two.

I have the Pleiades Hi-Powers for Sazh to muck around with on lesser enemies. Close range blitz is really strong, shame it doesn't work too well on targets too far to catch all the bullets.

[chrcoluk]

I have a lot of spare damage output for shalong gui's (with above weapons) e.g. if he dazes' 1-2 characters he is still dead in one stagger.

has he been nerfed in this version? I remember on the ps3 having to abort battles, now his bay is extremely weak, and if he uses quake right after he does me a favour as it removes daze, both attacks seem really weak now. It is possible I am just playing better tho.

[Guydodge]

thxs for the help guys took your advise and needed it ,was kinda like hitting a brick wall at chapter 11.